The Desert Leaf
by Skydancing Dragon
Summary: When the Akatsuki attack Suna to capture 5-year old Gaara, the Kazekage transports him to Konoha, where he is raised by Kakashi. There, he learns the value of friendship and joins Team 7 along with my OC, following most of the Naruto and Shippuden arcs, along with OVAs. Rated T for blood and violence. DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING IN NARUTO, ONLY MY OC.
1. The Forest of Konoha

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters. I do own an OC, though, that will appear later in the story. **

The dry, desolate place stood beneath him. It ran for miles and miles, and there, he could see the village of Sunagakure. It was where he had been ordered to go. _It's annoying_, he concluded, _being instructed to do something. _But then again, he had to do it, or it'd be another torture session for him. He quickly jumped off the steep cliff, landing on a white bird. Holding out his hand, he held it to a small packet of dirt, letting the mouth on the hand eat it and turn it into explosive clay. It was time to capture the One-Tail, Shukaku.

It was a typical, uninteresting day for Temari and Kankuro. Shopping, dealing with thieves…boring! They did love it when Baki trained them, though, but they usually ended up in a tangled heap, glaring daggers at each other, as they always seemed to tie in their fights. Now, as they headed back home, Temari suddenly jumped back a few paces, landing lightly on her feet.

"What is that?!" she asked cautiously, pointing with her fan at the sky. A big white bird was flying above the city. She spotted a strange black and red thing on the bird. Kankuro frowned. He pushed open the door and ran yelling to his father.

"Kazekage-sama! What is that?" His father looked up. The Kazekage's face began to crease in very, very angry lines.

"It's the Akatsuki."

"Fire!" The gigantic crossbows blasted out flaming arrows at the figure in the sky.

The giant bird swooped low, narrowly missing the arrows that were continually shot at it. The Akatsuki member grinned like an idiot, when he wasn't. His name was Deidara. Focusing his gaze on a small boy with red hair, he dived again and tried to grab him. Sand immediately surrounded the boy, effectively shutting out most kinds of attacks. But Deidara wasn't attacking. He easily scooped up the ball and made away on his bird. The Kazekage noticed his youngest son being carried away. "Don't let him get away!" he yelled, not wanting to lose his ultimate weapon. He didn't care about the boy. The only thing he wanted was to have Gaara become a tool for the village to use. In response to his shout, the arrows began to arrive rapidly. Deidara smirked and kept dodging. What he didn't plan on was that all the arrows had tags on them. They exploded right next to him, blasting the talons off. The boy dissolved his ball and struggled against his bonds, which resulted in a few broken tail feathers. None of it worked, however, as the bird was more than capable of losing a few limbs. It was clay, after all, and Deidara could still keep it "alive" with chakra.

"Watch this, jinchuriki! The centerpiece of artwork is the best with a…BOOM!" Deidara yelled. The falling pieces of the bird's limbs exploded on the village. People were screaming and running in terror below him.

Below Deidara, there was mass panic. Even when the Kazekage was using the Phoenix Flower flame to try and hit Deidara, it just wasn't accurate enough. The Kazekage had no choice. He held out his hands and began a complex series of hand signs.

"Teleportation." The blue energy zoomed out of his hands, and the Kazekage fell exhausted. His chakra was running very low, and he didn't have more to specify an area. Deidara was stupid enough to think that he had won, and wasn't counting on the blue ball whizzing over and transporting the boy somewhere else. When the weight noticeably lessened, Deidara glanced back and saw that the tail feathers were uncurled and Gaara was gone. He completely lost it and scattered his bird on the whole village, then dropping his doll on it. Nothing would ever be enough to cure him of Pein's face, furious with rage, and Deidara cried,

"NOOOO! PEIN'S GONNA KILL ME!"

While Gaara was falling through empty space, he immediately created another ball that encased him. As soon as the ball touched the forest floor, it disintegrated early, breaking his leg. Gaara tumbled out; pain engulfing him, and not knowing the unfamiliar surroundings. He soon realized that he was alone, and that his siblings weren't there. So he did what any lonely, injured child would do. He sat back on the leaves, tipped his head up, and yelled his pain to the world. _Very_ loudly. Anyone would hope that nothing threatening would find him.

A ninja with silver hair stopped abruptly as he heard a cry rise up from the forest. It sounded very much like a human child. But what child would put itself in the forest? Putting away his _Icha Icha_ novel, he increased his pace toward the forest. Breaking into a run as another terrible scream rose up, he performed a jutsu that would hide him from the person in case it was an enemy. He highly doubted it, though, when he came upon a boy. He had messy red hair, wore foreign clothing, and had a gourd much too large for a boy of his size strapped to his back. There were black circles underneath the boy's teal eyes, which were shadowed from lack of sleep. There was one symbol in red on his head that meant "love", and the jounin thought he had a broken leg. The boy looked around, unaware that anyone was there, and sighed heavily, revealing a seal. The white haired jounin stifled a gasp. The boy was the host for one of the Tailed Beasts.

In a split second, the jounin had decided to report the boy to the Third Hokage. After all, who knew what he could do? So the ninja quickly and silently jumped away, assuming that his visit would take less than five minutes. Little did he know, the Third Hokage was away, going to Suna to extend a hand of friendship…

When the ninja reached the Hokage's place, he paused. There was something suspiciously…_perverted_ in there. _Oh no_, thought the jounin, _if it's Jiraiya…! _Sighing, the white haired ninja walked into the hallway, where a certain Sannin was hanging around a photo of a woman. He had red markings down the sides of his cheeks, crazy perverted eyes, a demented grin, a mane of white hair, and one large pimple beside the left side of his nose. Hoping to get past him without a long, meaningless conversation, he attempted to walk away like a normal person, but there wasn't such luck.

"Hey, Kakashi!" yelled Jiraiya.

"Hey," replied Kakashi. "Look, I need to see the Hokage right now, so-"

"You mean, you haven't heard?" exclaimed Jiraiya, looking indeed very mischievous.

"Heard what?" asked Kakashi, curiosity overwhelming him.

"The Hokage's gone to Suna to establish a relationship. I heard it all from a beautiful woman I met downstream-"

"Fine, then," said Kakashi. "I'll take you and Gai with me instead."

"Whoa, whoa! Hold your puppies! Does this include beautiful women?" asked Jiraiya, smirking.

"Nope. It doesn't." replied Kakashi, frowning deeply. "This is important!"

"Whatever you say." They turned around to find a green blur flying into their faces.

"DYNAMIC ENTRY!"

"Oof."

After Kakashi had gathered his "friends", he set off toward the forest.

"Don't make too much noise. He might get scared." warned the silver-haired jounin.

"He?" asked Gai, a jounin with a mushroom bowl haircut and very bushy brows.

"We're going to get a boy in there." Kakashi answered.

"All right! Then, by the power of youth, let's quadruple the pace!" He zoomed off, leading a small trail of dust marking his way. Kakashi sighed. Somehow, Gai always found an excuse to speed up.

"You don't even know where he is, baka." Gai came back.

"Oh yeah. And I'm not an idiot!"

"There he is," whispered Kakashi. They all saw the red-haired boy sitting down on the dirt, staring at the air as if all life was gone. "I guess we should approach, but I'll have you go first, Jiraiya."

"Why me?" Jiraiya whined quietly.

"Because," Kakashi said dryly, "you're the best with kids." Jiraiya glared at him for a second, and stood up from behind the bushes. The boy instantly noticed, and stood up shakily. The limp was obvious now, but the boy didn't sit back down. He instead locked eyes with Jiraiya threateningly, sand rising from his feet. Kakashi's eyebrows immediately shot up. _Who had the power to manipulate sand? _He wondered. _Apparently, he does._

Jiraiya tried again.

"I'm not going to hurt you." The boy just frowned. Clearly, he didn't believe it. Jiraiya sighed. He didn't like the idea, but he did it nonetheless. Jiraiya took off the bag storing a ninja's tools, and threw it on the ground far away from him. The boy now looked at him as if he were crazy. Jiraiya repeated, "I'm not going to hurt you. What's your name?"

"…Gaara." The boy replied in a voice that would be totally inadequate for a presentation. The broken leg soon proved to be a little bit too much for him, and he staggered, nearly toppling to the ground.

"My friends and I will take you to the medical center. Is that ok?"

"…" Jiraiya took that as a yes, noticing that he didn't speak very much. He scooped up the boy, surprised that he weighed so little. Kakashi heaved out a gargantuan sigh. He walked out to stride alongside Jiraiya.

"Let the youthful spirit of youth overcome us and speed us to our destinaaaaaaaattionnn..." Guy sprinted away, leaving a trail of dust, his voice fading until they could hear nothing.

"So, what did you think of him?" asked Kakashi quietly.

"He's weird." Gaara replied, his mouth upturned by just a little. Jiraiya hooted with laughter the rest of the way while Kakashi shook his head disapprovingly at him. Leaning over to Jiraiya, Kakashi whispered,

"Gaara is carrying one of the Tailed Beasts. We're going to have to tell the Hokage about this." Jiraiya's eyes grew as big as a puffer fish, but he in turn leaned over to Kakashi and said,

"I don't care. Gaara's a nice, quiet kid. He'd be a great role model for…"

"UZUMAKI NARUTO! STOP FOOLING AROUND!" Iruka roared, disguising an exasperated sigh. His class clown was a great bit too much for the village. He tired every soul. The blond boy was currently wearing goggles on his head, an orange and blue jumpsuit with white ruffles on the collar, and a ridiculously disturbing grin on his face.

"I RULE, YOU DROOL!" yelled Naruto, who was on the Hokage Mountain. Their faces were splattered with white, red, and green paint.

"NARUTO! I'M GONNA TELL TEUCHI TO STOP GIVING YOU RAMEN IF YOU DON'T COME DOWN!"

"Awww…." Naruto climbed down and was awarded a "being tied up in front of the whole class" gift card that had to be used ASATC…in other words, as soon as tomorrow comes. "I hate you, Master Iruka…"

**A/N Did you like it? Yes, I changed the storyline a bit and made Naruto five when he climbed up the Hokage's faces. This was the longest I've ever written (not very long in usual standards, but whatevs). I'm planning for this story to be around 10-30 chapters, more if you're lucky, and it may have sequels. Anyway, do any of you know where the seal on Gaara is? I don't know if it's the shoulder, the head, or any other body part, so I didn't specify. As always, R&R!**


	2. A Meeting

"Now, Naruto, you know what to do, don't you?" Iruka said, a very fake smile plastered on his face.

"Yeah. I'm sorry!" Naruto said, waving his hands. "Why can't I go and train now? It's more fun." Iruka tried to dissipate his growing anger at the boy's pigheadedness.

"YOU IDIOT! IF SOMEONE, REFERRING TO YOU, PAINTS OUR HONORED HOKAGES' FACES-"

"You mean the old man."

"Quiet! It means that YOU have to CLEAN THEM UP!" Iruka finished his ranting, staring at the mostly nose bleeding Hokages.

"Fine!" Naruto mounted his platform and started to scrub.

Thirty minutes later…

_Ugh…only done with a fourth of the First Hokage's face!_ Naruto thought. _Wait, is Iruka asleep? All right! I'll sneak away to test my own teacher…_Naruto started lowering himself further, but Iruka's voice screamed,

"YOU DON"T LEAVE UNTIL EVERY DROP OF PAINT IS GONE!" _Ok. Now that I know how many steps until Hokage…I can see that there are a few million steps more... _Naruto thought. "So? It's not like anyone is waiting for me at home. I just wanted to see if you could sense me going away." Iruka looked at Naruto with a mixture of feelings, while Naruto went back to scrubbing frantically at the carved faces. Naruto noticed, saying,

"What?" in a nonplussed expression.

"Well…once you're through here…I'll…we could…I'll buy you a bowl of ramen." Naruto's face suddenly lit up like a jack 'o lantern.

"YEAH, BABY! TALK ABOUT MOTIVATION!"

After they'd dumped Gaara at the hospital for a little bit, Kakashi and Jiraiya went to the Hokage, who'd just returned. Sarutobi listened intently, then replied,

"I can't send him away. The boy is presumably from Suna, correct?" The two shinobi nodded. "The reason why I came back so early is because Suna is nearly completely destroyed by unknown forces. Their Kazekage is dead." Kakashi and Jiraiya raised eyebrows, not believing, and masking the amazement on their faces. The Third Hokage continued. "I will still have to consult several ninja about what you told me, though; it's a very large matter." With that, he dismissed them, telling them to come again three hours later.

A large number of people were assembled with the Hokage beginning to speak about Gaara, and his trip to Suna. They kept quiet, although you could hear some of them mutter,

"Isn't two enough?" and,

"Stupid bijuus!" and,

"Wow, Suna's dead." But after he was finished, they started to fire questions at him.

"How will we know that Shukaku won't break out and destroy the village like Kyuubi nearly did?" asked Ibiki. "My way would be to kill him, but I suppose you don't want me to do that." At the last sentence, the audience yelled,

"KILL HIM!" The Hokage raised his eyebrows, and replied,

"Correct. If we kill him, the demon will die, but so will he. We still need to honor Suna with him, as we don't know if there are any survivors. And don't you agree that if the enemy got ahold of a jutsu that could resurrect ninja, we would have a powerful ally rather than a powerful nemesis?" Several shinobi in the crowd were agreeing with the notion, while others shook angry fists. "Ibiki, to answer your question, I would reinforce his seal." Sarutobi finished. Ibiki narrowed his eyes. He still didn't trust the demon container. Not one bit. "But don't you all agree that with the Kyuubi, the Shukaku, and a lesser demon, our village would be the strongest? No one would be able to stop us." More shinobi started to nod at this. "Now. One more thing to settle. Who would like to take care of him?" Immediately the audience shrank back, leaving four members-Iruka, Jiraiya, Gai, and Kakashi. "Would any of you four like to take care of Gaara?" Iruka shook his head.

"I would be honored, but…um…I already have Naruto…sort of." The Third Hokage let it go.

"Jiraiya?"

"I would love to take care of him, as he seems like a great kid, but I really just don't have the time. I travel too much, so I wouldn't be able to give him the required attention. I would still like to visit him, though. Oh, and I just don't think we should let Gaara become corrupted by Gai's 'power of youth'." While Gai yelled out indignantly ("THE POWER OF YOUTH IS NOT SOMETHING TO BE TAKEN LIGHTLY WITH!"), several people laughed just because it was true. Hiding a smirk, Sarutobi finally turned to Kakashi.

"So, would you like to take care of him?"

"Sure. I'm not training anyone right now."

"It's settled." The Third Hokage, aka Old Man, said this with a tone of finality and a gaze that offered no argument. "If any of you disagree, please voice your protests now." His calm voice permitted nothing from the audience, and they knew he was asking only out of politeness.

Two minutes later…

"No, I don't think there are any problems, seeing as we've stood for two minutes of silence." Kakashi smiled underneath his mask. "I suppose you'll say to treat Gaara like a human next, Sarutobi?" Most of the crowd cringed, because they often did it anyways.

"Thank you for reminding me, Kakashi. As Kakashi said, please don't treat Gaara, Naruto, or Kirayuki like a monster. This meeting is over." He sat back down on his chair, sighing as he muttered, "I'm getting too old for this."

**Finished! In case you don't know who Kirayuki is, that's my OC. You'll hear more about her later. I'm so sorry for the wait, but I've recently received a piano contest invitation for the Bach Festival. I'm Level Five, and I'm supposed to compete against all other ages with my piece, Invention No. 8. So, predictably, I've been working on that for most of my time (boring!).**

**That means I cannot update for some time on this story or my others for a while. I'll try to type it up fast in my free time, but I may not update for a month or more. That being said, R&R!**


	3. The Ways of a Ninja

One week later…

As his eyes scanned the area, he found himself leaping to the top of a tree when they came again. Over a sequence that had started three days after he'd been put under Kakashi's care (and after he'd been released from the hospital), he'd identified the people who might try to get the better of him. Too late. One of the boys spotted him sitting on a tree branch and yelled menacingly,

"You scared of facing us, Raccoon-Face?" The others laughed mockingly, but Gaara kept his face completely devoid of emotion.

"You don't want to mess with me right now," Gaara said quietly, "because I would happily perform the courtesy of breaking a few bones." They froze at the scary glare sent in their way. Some of them backed off and ran, but the leader stood his ground.

"Why not come down and fight me fairly, monster!" he taunted. "You're not scared, are you?" Gaara nearly smiled. How wrong he was.

In the next few seconds, Gaara had jumped down the tree, given a worthy injury to the bully, and left the boy crying.

"You should be glad that I have self-control…for now." As he walked away, Gaara thought about his life. Who was his mother? Did he belong in this village? He remembered faint memories of long blond hair and weird face paint, but they didn't trigger much. Wanting to brood about his family a little longer, Gaara went to sit down on the bench. Kakashi was a nice guy, but he didn't tell him much about what had happened before he met them. His father just said, 'When you grow up, I'll tell you.' From that day on, when he'd first asked, Gaara had waited to grow up. His thoughts were interrupted as a sharp object tore across his arm, leaving a long, deep gash on his right shoulder. The first thing he registered was pain. The injury burned like the furnace. He tried not to cry, but it didn't work very well, and the tears came down silently. They had never given him such an injury before! The last time he had told Kakashi about it, his father had come back with the news that they needed evidence. _Otou-san, I'll have evidence now_, Gaara thought triumphantly, but still in pain. So the red-haired boy retrieved the item used to slash his arm and walked back to the place Kakashi had given him on the day he'd arrived. At least, this time he had proof.

Kakashi was mulling around in the apartment waiting for Gaara to come back, but when the door opened and the carpet was being stained red, Kakashi immediately pulled his adopted son into the bathroom. Once there, he started cleaning the wound up.

"What happened this time?" Kakashi asked, his fingers reaching for the bandage box.

"Them." Gaara replied, his emotionless tone indicating that Kakashi should have known. "But this time, I have evidence." Gaara held up the strange thing he had found, making sure not to touch the keen edge. _Where did they get that? _Kakashi thought. _I don't think their parents would allow their children to touch a kunai_. "What is it?" Gaara asked coldly. Deep inside, he was nearly jumping with curiosity.

"I don't think I should tell you now, but since you probably need the knowledge, I'll tell you. Gaara, this is a kunai. A ninja tool." At that, his adopted son's invisible brow furrowed. "We use it often, but children should not touch or handle these. It's very easy to cut yourself, so I don't even know how they threw it unless they hurt themselves too." Kakashi took the bloodstained knife and tucked it in his bag. "I guess this is proof, but it's not enough. The Hokage would believe you, but that boy's parents will not. They'll accuse you of injuring their child and stabbing yourself to create false proof." Gaara sighed, defeated. Then he summoned up his willpower. _I have to ask him._

" Otou-san, can you teach me the ways of the ninja?"

Kakashi was so surprised he nearly dropped the alcohol, but he managed not to look like a fool.

"Sure, but I'm warning you. If I teach you that, you'll most likely _die_." Gaara stared back, not amused.

"Kakashi, you know. You know I cannot be injured unless the attack happens when I'm distracted." he answered.

"Fine. Since I can tell that you're serious, we'll start at six at night until nine. Be sure not to eat anything before the practice! Another thing, be right on time or else you'll get chores." And with that happy thought in Gaara's head, Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke.

**A/N Sorry, I know this was a really short chapter. But I just thought that this would be a great stopping point, and it would (maybe) prevent people from hurling themselves off the cliff. R&R!**


	4. Orange & Paint

**A/N I've decided that the characters will have POVs after Gaara's training starts…meaning now. Thanks for reading!**

Gaara's POV

"You have to move more, Gaara. You rely too much on your sand." Kakashi was giving me pointers on taijutsu again, which was a basic safety measure, and was much less painful than if you incorrectly performed a ninjutsu ("Gaara, I once stayed in a hospital for a month because I focused on the wrong point of chakra and blew myself up. Doesn't that sound fun?").

I gritted my teeth as I stared at the doppelganger that I was unsuccessfully trying to pin down. It was reading the same stupid pervy romance novel that Jiraiya made up. I halfheartedly threw a punch at it, which it deflected with ease, but I then forcefully kicked the doppelganger's foot and stomped downwards on it. The doppelganger disappeared after it had made an ugly face at me.

"My, my, that wasn't very nice. But I do suppose you can't be expected to in a battle. Just don't allow yourself to be angered so easily. Also…I guess you'd rather start on kunai throwing?" I nodded quickly. Anything to avoid the anger that burned all the time.

Three minutes later, I asked,

"Why am I…supposed to look at…birds?" Kakashi and I were watching…birds. He replied calmly.

"Because you aren't concentrating on a certain point. Just do what I asked, Gaara…keep both your eyes on a bird." I sighed resignedly and focused on the bird, which was flying very fast. I noticed the brownish gold that settled over it, and Kakashi realized that I was asking a silent question.

"Those are golden hawks. I presume they're more interesting?" He received a nod. "Then onto the next stage. Cover it with your sand. Gently!" I was surprised, but I did it. The steady stream missed the hawk by a whole yard. I groaned.

"Tell me." I kept my voice neutral. Kakashi winked at me.

"Focus!" I gave up on him and pinpointed my range of concentration on the hawk's plumage. This time, the sand promptly splattered the hawk all over. As it screeched with anger, I muttered a quick 'Sorry' and extracted the sand that was tipping its balance. My adopted father smiled under his mask, saying,

"Now…we try that with kunai." He took out a few of the ninja tools out of his bag. They were blunted, but that was all right. "See, you have to focus to strike a certain area. You also have to hold it a certain way." He showed me how to properly hold a kunai knife, and I took it by the handle.

In one motion, I brought the kunai down and released it. It struck the tree dead-center. I grinned mentally, and turned my (in reality) expressionless face to him. He clapped mockingly, and I raised an eyebrow.

"That was pretty good. Seems like you handle sharp objects quite well. All you have to do…is practice."

And I did indeed practice, over the course of the next five and a half years. During those years, I realized that more and more people tended to either avoid or tried to mess with me (e.g throwing apples). I didn't know exactly why they did that, but I ignored it as usual and carried on. I also improved my throwing skills and accuracy, namely with sand, but I never really showed it to Kakashi. When I finally did it in front of my (sort of) sensei, all ten of my target's bull's eyes were destroyed by kunai. Kakashi nodded in approval.

"There's something you need to know, Gaara." I glanced up curiously.

"I want you to attend the Ninja Academy." _Huh?_ I thought, shocked.

"There, you will learn more about the ways of the ninja. But I could care less about that. It really is time for you to form a team, so in the next one and a half years, you'll be staying at the Academy." Seeing as I really didn't care that much, it did not matter in the slightest.

After the little talk about Ninja Academy, I began walking toward the school. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted an orange and yellow blur lugging a gray paint bucket charging toward the school. Shrugging the strange feeling of uneasiness, I kept on walking until I was face-to-face with the classroom I was assigned to. I knew I was here quite early, so without hesitation, I pulled open the door to receive a shock. The orange and yellow blur was sitting on the classroom floor, sloppily splattering the wall with thick dye. Although he wasn't a blur…not anymore.

The boy sitting on the floor had on an orange jumpsuit on, with a white collar around its neck. He had blond hair, and bright, mischievous blue eyes. There were goggles on his head and three whisker-like scars on each side of his cheek. I had observed all this in the meager time of one second and decided what to do in the next.

Since I wasn't going to stop him doing anything by layering the wall with sand (I'd just get my sand covered with paint) I quietly backed away instead of disturbing the strange student. _Like I would ever do that_. I began to pace around the academy until I spotted a pink-haired girl racing to school along with another girl, whom had her long hair tied in a ponytail. They looked furious at each other, and had angry veins bulging out of their foreheads. They barreled right over another girl whom I had seen studying the water on the ground earlier, trampling her. They didn't pay any attention at all, and kicking the school door aside, continued their race. The girl they had ran over stood up, scowling, and went back to staring at the water. But it wasn't water anymore. It was…ice?

**A/N Hope you liked this chapter! R&R, please!**


	5. The Number One Clown

Naruto's POV

Grinning devilishly, I finished the amazing portrait that I had worked on. Guess what it looked like?

A colorful array of red, white, and brown was splattered on the classroom walls. The brown was covered with dots of darker brown that were artfully rendered to look like a certain someone's warts. The white-and-red hat he wore was supporting a huge pink flowery heart. The person's hair was long and curly, and scribbles were made on it to represent messy hair. Drool was coming out of his mouth, the corner decorated by a particularly large brown wart.

Indeed, it was Lord Hokage, Master Sarutobi, ruler of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. It was he who was painted most illuminatingly on the walls of Iruka's classroom. But sadly, the clock was ticking, and I knew I would have to finish off soon. So, I quickly slapped the heart with the brightest magenta I had before beginning to paint yet another unsightly pustule on his face until I heard a deadly whisper behind my back.

"Naruto…" Freezing, the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end and a terrible prickling sensation was spreading slowly across my body. Dreading this moment, I turned my head around only to receive a face full of spittle.

"DO YOU KNOW WHAT THE HOKAGE HAS DONE FOR US? DO YOU EVEN TAKE NOTICE, YOU BAKA!? HE PRACTICALLY SAVED OUR VILLAGE FROM BEING LEADERLESS! IF IT WEREN'T FOR HIM WE'D ALL BE DEAD BY NOW FROM INDECISION AND REBELLION! NOW, I WANT YOU ERASING THAT WALL RIGHT THIS MOMENT OR IT WILL BE NO RAMEN FOR THE REST OF YOUR SORRY EXCUSE OF A LIFE! GOT IT MEMORIZED?" Iruka was yelling his head off, and a staff member actually came in and offered to perform a Calming Jutsu on him before he was literally kicked out of the room with one splendid strike from the red, angry ninja fuming at me.

"Ehehehe…" I laughed nervously. "Sorry, Iruka-sensei…" He turned his flaming eyes on me again.

"Sorry? Sorry!? SORRY SIMPLY DOESN'T CUT IT, BOY! DO WHAT I SAID EARLIER OR YOU'LL GET TO STAY RIGHT HERE, AFTER EVERY CLASS, AND HELP ME DO CHORES! WOULD YOU LIKE TO DO THAT? YOU KNOW, YOU ALREADY HAVE TO STAY AT THE FRONT OF THE CLASS, TIED UP, AND LISTENING TO EVERY WORD I SAY! THAT STARTS TOMORROW!" His rambling went on and on until he calmed down and told me to get cleaning.

I moodily dabbed at the painting that I had created. I was so far away from finishing that I knew I wouldn't be able to get it off for at least another few hours. For another thing, I thought my painting was really good, actually, because it wasn't _that _harmful. Well, at least I had a few more hours…the only people that would wake up this early to school were Ino and Sakura, who had a sort of insane rivalry over who gets to be Pretty-Boy Sasuke's girlfriend.

I just didn't get it! Why did all the girls like Sasuke so much? He was a good-for-nothing, arrogant, idiotic bastard who believed himself superior to everyone in Konoha! I bet I could beat him! I, the great Naruto Uzumaki!

In my sudden anger, my hand immediately wiped away nearly a fourth of the paint I used. I blinked. _Wow…do that again, Naruto! _I wiped away most of the mess I had created and, deciding to save some for later, filled up a bucket with the paint. Luckily, too, because there was still around a few minutes for me to pretend to be late to class. I looked at Iruka, who was staring slyly at me.

"Fine. Leave. I'll just add a few more days to your confinement to the pole. You'll be starting that tomorrow all the way until the end of the week"

Sighing unhappily, I made my way to my desk and waited for the first arrival (after me, of course!), probably Sakura, so I could sit next to her. The door opened and I found myself staring into cold teal eyes. _That's so not Sakura…_

Scrutinizing the newcomer, I kept on gazing at him until I was certain that he had never been to Ninja Academy before. Nor had I ever known that he existed at all! _**Wow, Naruto…you run around in the streets all the time and you never noticed this kid? **_A tiny, foxlike voice spoke in my head. I shook my head and it was gone. _Who the hell was that? Ah, well, never mind. _

The boy's eyes traveled over the classroom, and he walked over to the very back, so that he was covered by the shadows. Strangely enough, I realized that he did seem to melt into it, as if he really wasn't there. _What the hell?!_

Gaara's POV

_SLAM! _The door burst open, two squabbling girls trying to squeeze into the classroom first.

"Sasuke loves me!" The blonde one snapped at the pink-haired girl. I mentally sighed. _If I wasn't already insane, I'm sure I'll be if these two lovesick girls do this every morning. _Then the voice spoke.

_**Why don't you? Snap their necks, and they'll be mute forever. I could do that for you, you know, it's quite easy. Just let me out and I'll-**__Shut up. _I growled. And I clicked shut the invisible cage.

I didn't know when exactly the voice began showing up, but I do know that it gives me murderous intent. It'd be a great excuse for the villagers to hate me more than they already do if I killed someone.

I knew I wouldn't be able to shut this thing up forever, though. The voice returned whenever there was blood and it was a lot worse when I had inflicted the wound myself. Kakashi had helped me by telling me to brood it out whenever I did feel it. However, the voice got worse as I got older, and by now it was nearly unstoppable when I was pissed enough.

"Does not!" The pink-haired girl retorted.

"Does too!"

"Does not!"

"DOES TOO!"

"Does no-" The pink-haired girl was cut off by the door opening again and a raven-haired boy walking in with an arrogant stride.

"Sasuke! You're so cool!" The blonde screamed. To put it simply…I felt sick. The pure love radiating from her and the pink-haired girl was enough to make someone barf. "Sakura, he cut you off. That means he loves me!" The girl continued. The newly named Sakura narrowed her eyes at the girl and snapped.

"IF HE CUT ME OFF, THEN HE HATES YOU, INO!" She yelled. _Such mood-swings…_

The door opened again, another girl walking in and wincing all the way at the racket coming from Ino and Sakura. It was the girl I saw kneeling beside the puddle that had turned to ice. She made brief eye contact with me and we forged a silent rivalry against each other. I could feel a presence inside her, and I was sure she could feel the same from me.

_**Of course! Let me kill her for you, and you'll have one lesser to worry about.**_

_No thanks._

_**Come on, one simple agreement and I could give you all you desire! Blood…the essence of life…so tasty…**_

_Taste my fist, insane one._

With that, I tried ending the conversation by delivering a mental punch, but he kept on ranting on and on about killing the lesser. I still didn't know what he meant, and I didn't care.

Sasuke strode over to a seat in the second row, sitting in a seat far away from all of the girls. A shuffle immediately rose and all of the girls that were in the room moved over as close as possible to Sasuke. Ino and Sakura managed find seats near to his. The only person left on the right side other than me was the girl I had started a rivalry against.

Deciding to distract myself, my eyes traveled to the blond boy, Naruto, who was staring at an empty seat next to Sakura. He slowly stood up and ran over to it, but she flashed a glance at him and moved over so that Ino was at the end of the row and Sasuke was next to Sakura.

Looking fairly disappointed, Naruto looked around for another seat, and his eyes landed on the one next to me. He plopped himself into the chair and started to make a tiny fire with an explosive tag. I raised an invisible eyebrow.

Another argument started and I sighed for real. Directing my eyes to the classroom, I let them stay there, knowing that they would look blank, cold and emotionless.

But then a rock sailed over my head and went straight toward Sasuke. I watched, slightly interested, as the raven-haired boy's hand shot out and caught the rock. He lowered his hand, still holding it, and the girls roared in admiration. By now, the classroom was nearly full.

"So cool!" They squealed.

A few minutes later, our teacher, brow furrowed at the noise, stood up and began the roll call. The classroom immediately went silent.

"Uzumaki Naruto!" He called after many other names, including mine, at which several eyes turned to me, including some faces I knew. Knew because of daily ambushes and many bruised limbs. I had ignored the stares, even if I was a little uncomfortable with the attention.

"Naruto?" Iruka called again, exasperated.

Suddenly, with a loud boom, a firecracker, spitting out sparks, rolled cleanly over to the second row and exploded over and over. It burned up the floor around Sasuke's feet and set fire to his pants. He quickly put it out by swatting at it. Several people laughed, but with a deadly glare from the girls, they fell quiet. Only one voice was still laughing. And highly obnoxiously, I might add.

"HAHAHAHA!" Naruto was hunched over, gasping for air, and positively rolling on the floor. "Here, Iruka sensei!"

The corner of my teacher's mouth twitched. He rolled his eyes to heaven and continued calling names.

"Only Naruto could have such a dramatic way for a simple roll-call…" I heard Iruka sigh.

**A/N I really didn't like this chapter…there were next to no ideas for this. Was Naruto too OOC? Critical reviews are always appreciated. And for my five reviewers and every single person who's reading this…THANKS SO MUCH! *gives cookies* **

**demonhellfire:…um…what do you mean? And as for Temari and Kankuro…you'll find out later. That's actually a pretty big part of the plot…**

**RyoDemonRyo: My reply is in the reviews section.**

**Graffiti-Kami: Of course not! Naruto's personality is what made him what he is now. And thanks for reviewing!**

**SmoothCriminalVictim: Thanks!**


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